Shadows of the Past
by East Coast Ryder
Summary: Fourth and final part of my It's Fun to Stay at the Y series. Book 43 to the end. Upped rating to T because the end gets pretty dark. I live! Chapter 6 up!
1. Chapter 1: Stephanie

**Stuff that's underlined is in sign language.**

**Okay, last one in the It's Fun to Stay at the Y series. I regret to announce that this will most likely be the last story I ever post in the Animorphs fandom. I recently have gotten into the Star Wars section, so, if you're interested, I'll be hanging there. I personally think that my Star Wars stuff is better than this regardless.**

**Disclaimer: I owneth not Animorphs. Or anything, really. **

Chapter One

Stephanie

>Oh, beautiful. Just great,> Nikkei muttered. >When were you going to tell us your dad lived out here?>

"I didn't know," I whispered so Nikkei could hear me but my father couldn't. "Must have moved away after we went into hiding."

>Go figure. You want backup?>

"Yeah."

>I'll go morph. You too, Al, Tobias.>

"Stephanie?" My brother Bobby asked in sign language.

I nodded. "Dad, why are you here?"

He sighed. "Your mother and I divorced, Steph. I moved out here with Bobby, and your mother stayed with Jeanine and Lucas. She blamed me for your disappearance."

"Ah."

A rustle in the bushes. A bobcat?

No, Nikkei, Al, and Tobias.

"Hey, Steph, why'd you leave the camp—" a pause "—site. Oh. Hello." Nikkei, the almighty BS artist. I could hug her.

"Nikkei, Al, Tobias, this is my father and brother Bobby," I introduced.

"Friends of yours?" Dad asked, looking at their attire and my own; my unitard shredded on the shoulders.

"Yes. We were doing some camping, as Nikkei might have suggested. Oh, and Nikkei, I thought I heard voices, so I ran off."

"Um, sir?" Tobias asked. "My dad," He gestured to Al, "wants us to go pack up, so could we borrow Stephanie for a few minutes?"

"You guys go ahead, I think my dad has some questions that require answers."

>Don't tell him,> Tobias snapped.

I shook my head slightly. The three headed out.

"I'm guessing you want to know why I left."

"The thought passed my mind, yes," He said coldly.

"I'm sure it has. I've been caught up in something so huge, much bigger than myself, that it became required for me to let it consume all my time, and to keep it secret from you, to protect you, mom, Bobby, Jeanine, and Lucas. As of about two weeks ago, I was still attending school until it was necessary for me to esca— I mean, leave. I'm not doing drugs, I'm not doing any dirty deeds, and I am not alone. I have friends who are helping me through this; they are in the same boat I am. Does that answer your question?"

"Vaguely."

"I'm sorry I cannot go more in-depth. But it is my duty to my friends, and to you, to keep it a secret and protect your life."

He sighed. I know my mom would have pushed harder, but what happened next surprised me.

"So. You're one of the Animorphs? And the one you call Al is the great prince Elfangor…"

"Will someone please tell me what is going on!" Bobby signed.

* * *

Review responces

Janika: I'm glad you liked it. To the whole yeerk-thing: Cheese. Guess what? I GOT A BETA! I feel special. (tears up.)

Traycon3: NEW REVIEWER! (does new reviewer dance) Ahem. How I got Al back is in chapter 13 of It's Fun to Stay at the Y. Actually, no, I haven't been to New Ulm or Mankato. But my fifth and sixth grade teacher's parents live in New Ulm. That stinks that you are stuck at a college the whole summer.


	2. Chapter 2: Jeff

Chapter two

Jeff

"Okay, tell me again why I'm agreeing to this?" I asked Allison, who was piloting the bug fighter.

"Yeah, Alli," Shelly said, backed against the back wall.

"Don't call me Alli. Al hasn't responded to any of our calls, and we can't bring everyone in one fixed bug fighter unless we plan on morphing. And leaving the rest of the bugs unguarded is a bad idea," Allison replied, hands dancing along the controls.

"I'm just saying, from what John told me, you've crashed one of these before."

"Yes, in that battle almost five months ago. Do you want to know how I survived? It's called an evac shaft on the bottom of the bug. That's why I'm flying in atmosphere. So we don't suffocate on the way down."

"You saying we're actually going to go out the bottom?" I yelled.

"Yep. See, I can't land one of these things. I'm activating the auto-destruct, then we fall. And morph on the way down."

"You're as crazy as Shelly!"

"Hey!" Shelly snapped.

"I'm actually quite flattered," Allison said. "Ready?"

"No!" I yelled.

"I'm taking that as a yes." She pressed several more buttons. "I recommend you start morphing, even though we've got a long drop."

"Self-destruct activated," the computer said coolly as if it wasn't some dire thing.

I felt the bottom of the bug flip open. Allison dived down, feathers already forming. Shelly followed suit.

"Uh-uh, no way," I backed away from the hole.

"Destruct in ten seconds."

"On second thought…"

I jumped from the bug as it exploded above me. I screamed.

"AH! AH! NO! ALLISON! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

>Start morphing, you _baka_ (1),> Shelly said, already an eagle.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" I started to transform into a Cooper's hawk.

Allison laughed. >Ah, put a lid on it.>

"YOU'RE BOTH _NUTS_! NUTS, I TELL YOU—" I passed from normal speech into thought-speech. >YOU ARE BOTH NUTS!>

* * *

(1) Means 'idiot' in Japanese. (Would now be a good time to say that her and April are anime freaks?)

REVIEW RESPONCES

Traycon3: That's good. Thanks for the review!

Janika: A beta is someone who, basically, reads over your story, and checks spelling, grammar... makes sure you don't have any plot holes. Stuff like that. And I'm working on the crossover... it is very writer's-block-like.


	3. Chapter 3: April

Argh… the fun and joy of adding to the disclaimer… For this chapter only, I do NOT own Subway. And I don't own the term 'Polar bear swim,' I learned it at camp.

Chapter Three

April

I splashed my face with water from the pond. My eyes hurt from reading all the Yeerk updates on the laptop.

"Tired?"

My head swiveled. John was leaning against a tree, staring at the stars.

"I guess you could say that."

"Not exactly like you see them in Minnesota, huh?"

"What?" I said, confused.

"The stars, I mean. They're not this clear."

I looked up. "Yeah, I guess. Haven't really paid attention. Not since I was seven, and I fell down the ladder at my cabin. I couldn't do our annual 'polar bear swim,' so I just sat on the dock looking at the stars."

"You weren't hurt, were you?"

I laughed. "Think about that one, John."

"How high was this ladder, and why were you on it?"

"Ah, the ladder's a good ten feet, and it's the only way to get to the second floor of the cabin. Grandpa didn't build stairs. My mom said— never mind…" A flood of memories draped my mind.

"What?" John pressed.

"She said that she thought I was a bundle of clothes. She was walking by as I fell."

"Perfectly possible. I mean, if you do throw your clothes down the ladder."

"Yeah, we do," I bit my lip. "There are a lot of things that we automatically do."

"Like what?"

"Like… Like the last conversation I had with my dad before I left," A tear trickled down my cheek. "He and I got into a fight. I had left my Subway wrapper on the floor at our house, automatically, like I usually did, but this time… he just exploded. As if I was doing drugs or something… I— I didn't even get to say goodbye, or even write them a letter…" I took a deep breath. "But that doesn't matter anymore. They aren't even my real parents. And they probably won't be for some time…"

There was silence for a moment. "Hey, your birthday's coming up, right? 14 years?"

"Not really soon. Three, maybe four months. I've lost track. Why?"

He looked up again. "No reason."

I glanced at my watch. "9:40. Better get to bed." I turned around.

"Hey, April?"

"Yeah?"

"…Good night."

I had a feeling that that wasn't what he was going to say. "You too."

**Review Responces** (**And a plea...**)

Janika: They'll show up in a while. Quite a while,I think.Thanks!

Okay, now for the plea... I SEVERELY need a new title for this one. Remember, this goes to the end of the war. PLEASE at least give me something.


	4. Chapter 4: Nikkei

Chapter four

Nikkei

"She's been gone too long," I said.

"Nick, think about it," Jeff asked, having joined us with Allison and Shelly. "Her and her dad have a lot to talk about."

We stood near the clearing where Ax had his scoop, though he wasn't there. It was just me, Jeff, Allison, Shelly, Al, and Tobias, who was in human form.

"She's been gone for five hours!"

"And since when do you call her 'Nick?'" Shelly asked, eyebrow raised.

"I always have," Jeff said innocently.

"Sure. Right."

"Hey, Tobias, what day is it?" I asked.

"You don't know?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"No. We don't."

"It's December 22nd."

"Three days until Christmas…" Allison muttered.

"And I'm sure that to Stephanie's dad, this would be an extremely good Christmas present."

"Are you suggesting she may not come back?"

"Possibly. I'm sure she'd find a way to leave. But let's get serious. Nikkei, you're very good at finding people, if I remember correctly. You find Stephanie, we'll head off to tell the others." Tobias began to demorph. The rest of us morphed our various bird forms.

I took off in the direction where Stephanie had been, searching the ground for something, some sign of, well, anything. Signs of a struggle, footprints, bits of clothing caught on branches, anything.

Nothing. Not even a footprint. Not even a footprint from when Stephanie's dad had came, no sunken land from where Bobby had sat.

I circled back, stewing in thought. How is that physically possible? The ground was damp, pressure of any kind would make an indentation. There _had_ to be something.

>Argh… April would know what to do…> I muttered.

"AH! Let me go!" I heard from below me.

>What?> I dove, entering a 'stoop.' Following the sound, I came across…

>STEPHANIE!> I called.

"Nikkei! Help me!"

"HUSH!" a second voice commanded. "You'll draw the controller's attention."

>"What?"> Our voices said in unison.

**Hahaha... the plot thickens. THANX MUCHLY TO JANIKA FOR THE GREAT NEW TITLE!**

**Janika: Thanx for the title! hands chocolate bar **

**Traycon3: Thanx anyway. I'm glad you like the story.**


	5. Chapter 5: John

Chapter five

John

"Are you _sure_ you know what you're doing?" I asked skeptically.

"Look, I know that the two black wires go with each other. They're the same color, therefore they attach. Then again," April added, rewiring the console on the bug fighter that controlled the rest, "The only other thing I know is the red and black wires can't touch…"

"What? Where'd that last part come from?"

"Old camp song."

"Great, we get our bug fighter manual from some losers at a campsite."

"Hey, it was Catholic camp. Don't diss it. Besides, you've Jesused me more than they did that entire week."

"'Jesused?'" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Giving someone the whole speech on 'Jesus is our savior,' 'Remember, he died for us!' and all those other things I know and despise. I think I understand, especially now, the power of sacrificing one's life for the well-being of the world."

"Point taken."

"My mom better not make me go to SS anymore after this is all over and done with…" April muttered.

"SS?"

"Sunday school."

I sighed. "How long is this going to take?"

"Well, Allison got most of the repulserlifts working, and I got the rest, so I just rewire this thing, and we're out of here."

"The question is, do you know where you're going?"

"Yeah. Cassie told me where they lived in the Yeerk pool."

"Fine."

"I think…" She said, connecting two blue wires, "that we're done."

"Start 'er up."

"You should. You're the faster morpher. Just in case it explodes, we should be in cockroach morph."

"April, you don't _have_ a cockroach morph… Wait, if it what!"

"Yes, I do. It may explode if I wired it wrong," She pointed out. "All you do is press this itty bitty button," she explained, "and start morphing." April began to morph.

"Argh…" I muttered. When she was done, I began my morph. I focused on retaining my hand and my height, but otherwise going roach. I pressed the button.

The bug started. We demorphed.

"This'll be fun," April said. She stepped up to the controls. "John, you take the weapons. Cloaking field on."

And we began our journey to the other side of the continent.

**Sorry SoRrY SORRY! for the wait. I've been really really busy, and keeping all these plates spinning is really hard.**

Janika: Thanks. Here's your cheese. hands over


	6. Chapter 6: Shelly

Chapter Six

Shelly

We stopped off at the Hork-Bajir home. We informed the other Animorphs about what was happening, met Toby Hamee, and began to erect little huts to stay in.

"Look, hun," Allison said. "I NEED that make-up. YOU convince Rachel to give it to me."

"No, you do not," I replied. "Leave me alone."

"Geez," Jeff said. "You two fight like an old married couple."

"SHUT UP!" two voices yelled.

"Oh, AND I need a hair straightener. If I don't, I have an AFRO," Allison explained.

"I WILL NOT GET THEM!"

Al rolled his eyes, or, at least as much as an Andalite could, and begain a conversation with the Hork-Bajir.

"My God," Jeff muttered. "Those two will drive me INSANE."

"Jeff?" I asked sweetly.

"Yes?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now, Allison, GET THEM YOURSELF!" With that, I stormed into the hut to grab a snack.

I munched on a granola bar, pulling out a notebook where I wrote my poetry, and a CD player to listen to.

Chattering noises. I looked around, shrugged, and returned to the notebook.

"Shell."

I was annoyed. There was no one making the noise.

"SHELLY!" I jumped halfway to the ceiling, knocking my headphones off.

"What?"

Jeff walked in. "Nikkei isn't back yet?"

"Nope. Quite frankly, I like the quiet."

"Aren't you at least a bit worried? Stephanie's out there too, you know," he pointed out.

"The only thing I'm worried about is the sake of my sanity in this place."

"Are you insinuating something?" Jeff asked, hands on his hips.

"No, I just find it a little crazy that we're living with Hork-Bajir. They are, technically speaking, the equivalent of the enemy."

He sighed. "The more you talk, the more I think the war has really taken its toll on you, Michelle."

"No one," I growled, stepping closer to him, a murderous look on my face, "calls me Michelle."

"Your darling Jerry called you that."

I snapped. I jumped on top of him, clenching his neck between my hands. "Shut up, you little..."

"Shell... Can't breathe..."

"That's the point, you tactless little nuisance!"

"SHELLY! JEFF!"

I looked up, angry. Allison was standing in the doorway, confused and annoyed.

"Look, we have enough problems without you two trying to kill each other! Shelly, kindly remove your hands from his throat."

I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Thank you," Jeff squeaked, rubbing his reddened neck.

Man, I wish I had succeeded.

"Now, Shelly, about that straightener..."

"Not happening," I said, cutting her off. "For one thing, I'm lazy. Also, you in an afro is a vision that might just bring some laughter to this camp. And I, personally, could use a good laugh." I put my headphones back on.

Both Allison and Jeff left the tent, grumbling to themselves.


End file.
